Four policemen injured as students go berserk in Sardulgarh

Four policemen were injured and three private buses were damaged when a mob comprising school and college students went berserk and resorted to stone-pelting during a blockade on Sardulgarh ring road near Khaira Khurd village in the district on Wednesday.

Four policemen were injured and three private buses were damaged when a mob comprising school and college students went berserk and resorted to stone-pelting during a blockade on Sardulgarh ring road near Khaira Khurd village in the district on Wednesday.

The police resorted to mild cane charge to disperse the protesters. The police also reportedly detained around 70 students, mostly juveniles.

It started at around 8:30 am when school and college students gathered to staged a dharna on Sardulgar ring road against the maltreatment they get at the hands of the staff of private buses while plying between their institutions and home. As the police reached the spot to lift the blockade, the students went on a rampage and started smashing the windowpanes of buses and pelting the cops with stones.

On Tuesday, an altercation had taken place between a croup of students and the staff of a private bus over the issue of tickets, but the matter was resolved after the villagers intervened. A compromise was reached, wherein the students agreed to pay 35% of the fare.

Following Wednesday's violence, the police rounded up a number of students and blockade lifted, around 2:30pm a group of villagers from Khaira Khurd and Khaira Kalan blocked the road and demanded release of students and action against the private bus operators.

SSP Narinder Bhargav said, "The situation is under control and we have arrested a few students against whom FIR is being registered under different sections of Indian Penal Code. Most of the students were let off after they apologised in writing."

It is pertinent to note that on September 5 this year, the students of Government NM College, Mansa, had staged a protest against the private bus operators after a student was kidnapped and injured by the staff of a private bus.